Angelou

Maya Angelou Residence Hall opened in 2016 and completes the South Forest neighborhood of first-year residence halls. The hall was named for poet, author, professor and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. Dr. Angelou taught poetry and literature to generations of Wake Forest students as the Reynolds Professor of American Studies from 1982 until her death in 2014. She described herself as a “teacher who writes,” but the impact of her legacy of courage, honesty and strength reaches well beyond the classroom. The pen and bird on the seal signify the uplifting power of Dr. Angelou’s words in works like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “Still I Rise.”

Faculty Fellows

John Friedenberg

J E R Friedenberg ­ JERF (BA Wake Forest University, MFA Carnegie Mellon University) Director of Theatre and Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Theatre & Dance. Jerf teaches Theatre Management, Stage Management, Intro to Theatre, First Year Seminars, Senior Seminar, and team teaches Studio Production. He regularly directs plays and travels frequently adjudicating productions as well as recruiting for theatre and the arts at Wake. His checkered academic career has given him an appreciation for education over training, experience over observation, and reflection over urgency. With two grown daughters, he is an advocate for equality, a fan of title IX, and a supporter of women’s soccer and other sports. He tends to go left on hugs and politics.

Jed Macosko

Hello! I'm Jed Macosko, a professor in the Physics Department since 2004. I research the interface between physics and cancer and also enjoy pioneering new educational uses of virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. I'm excited to be a faculty fellow and to be involved in your first-year experience at Angelou Hall. My own first-year experience was something I will remember the rest of my life, and I greatly appreciated the professors who took time away from their research to have dinners at our living house and who spent time out of the classroom to help me find my way in life. Now, with five children of my own on their way to college in the next few years, I'm excited to help your amazing university experience at Wake Forest be even more enriching.

Katy Harriger

Hi. I'm a Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs. I came to Wake Forest in 1985 as a young graduate student finishing my PhD, and have loved the opportunity to teach generations of students about American politics and to do research in the same area. In addition to teaching an occasional First Year Seminar and the introductory course in American Government and Politics, I teach upper level courses in constitutional law and the judicial process. I'm also the Faculty Director of the Wake Washington program, so if you have an interest is spending a semester in DC, interning and taking classes with a Wake Forest faculty member, talk to me! I live in the Faculty Drive neighborhood right next to campus with my husband and our dog, and I have a grown up son who lives in Charlotte. I grew up in western Pennsylvania on a farm but really enjoy living in the vibrant city of Winston-Salem. I look forward to meeting you and helping you learn about Wake Forest and Winston-Salem.